


Hang In There

by camcatwriter



Series: Hunk-Centric Fics [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Claustrophobia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hunk and Lance are best friends and they love each other, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, mostly Hunk and Lance centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25741747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camcatwriter/pseuds/camcatwriter
Summary: Hunk and Lance have paired up for a ground mission and are on their way back to the castleship when, of course, everything goes wrong. Hunk might be terrified, but Lance needs him and letting Lance down is never an option.In other words, Hunk's Mom Friend Override kicks in.
Relationships: Hunk & Lance (Voltron)
Series: Hunk-Centric Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1261949
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Hang In There

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Glowsquid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowsquid/gifts).



> Hi so this has been a very, very long time coming, like I had the general concept back in Feb 2019 and had a conversation with Glowsquid(hi happy birthday :D enjoy the fic) about it to help fill in a general plot, and then I forgot about it for awhile, oops.
> 
> Then when I was cleaning out my pictures I found the screenshots of said conversation and decided to actually write it, which was originally going to be a Christmas present but things got crazy and it didn't actually happen so now it's a birthday present instead :D
> 
> This is the most plot-heavy fic I think I've ever written and idk how exactly I feel about it but here it is so be kind please and thank you  
> Enjoy y'all!

"Hunk, Lance, are you guys on your way up yet?" Shiro's voice crackled through the comms. "We can't hold this position much longer, and the Galra are going to call for backup soon, if they haven't already."

Hunk and Lance were running through the tunnels on their way back to the surface. Lance spoke before Hunk could even collect his scattered thoughts enough to give a coherent report. "Affirmative, Shiro. We'll surface in about two minutes and we'll need covering fire to get back to Yellow and off the planet."

He looked at Hunk for confirmation, to which Hunk nodded.

Shiro sounded somewhat relieved. "I think we can stall for two minutes. Hurry."

Lance switched off his comm and looked sideways at Hunk. "You okay, buddy? The hardest part is behind us, we're gonna be fine," he assured him, checking around a corner before they continued upward.

Hunk tried to swallow but his throat was too dry. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I just... can't shake the feeling something's about to go horribly wrong, you know? I guess I'm just..." he had to pause to breathe before finishing his sentence. "I'm scared."

Lance nodded, understanding. "I know, it's okay, man. We just gotta get out of these tunnels and we'll be in Yellow and back on the Castle in no time, just hang in there a little longer, yeah?" He gave a quick glance at the ceiling. "Not gonna lie, I'll feel a lot better after we're not in these tunnels any more."

Hunk shot Lance a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

Lance shrugged. "After the, uh, cryopod situation, you know, when the Castle went all haywire? After that I, uh, I'm not the biggest fan of tight spaces, I guess?"

Hunk's eyebrows shot up. "Lance, you-"

Lance interrupted him quickly. "I'm fine, Hunk, I'd just really like to get out of here. Besides, the tunnels aren't that small, I'm not panicking or anything-" He cut himself off as a sentry passed through a connecting tunnel. Once the coast was clear, he cleared his throat. "I'm fine, Hunk. Promise." He grinned and threw Hunk a pair of finger guns. "Besides, I've got you, how could I not be?"

Hunk opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, a low rumble echoed through the tunnel they were running through.

Lance stopped abruptly. "What was that?" Another rumble answered him, louder this time. Lance put one hand on his bayard and his other hand on Hunk's arm. "Hunk..."

Hunk put his hand over Lance's. "I don't... I don't know..." The rumbling came again, but this time it didn't stop, it just started growing louder and louder.

Their comms crackled loudly in their ears. "Guys!" Pidge's voice came through, panicked. "You have to get out of there, now! The Galra set off a series of explosions up here and now the tunnels are collapsing, you need to-" Rocks started coming loose from the ceiling, clattering to the tunnel floor.

Hunk grabbed Lance's hand and dragged him up the tunnel. "We're on our way, Pidge, I'm sending you my location-" Hunk's fingers flew over the holopad on his armor, "we're nearly to the top-"

The tunnel in front of them gave a great shudder and the ceiling caved in, filling the archway nearly to the top with rocks of various shapes and sizes.

Lance was suddenly very, very pale. "Hunk, please, please tell me there's another way out of here."

Hunk tapped his comms repeatedly. "Pidge? Pidge, we need another route."

Nothing.

Hunk felt his blood run cold. He tried again. "Pidge?" Slightly more panicked, "Shiro?"

Lance had started to pace back and forth, trying his own comms. "Keith? Coran? Anyone?"

Nothing.

They were on their own, then. Hunk looked around, trying to see an alternate route. There had to be another way out, or maybe they could make their way through the tunnel ahead? It was smooth stone above them, probably meant to be a main tunnel, so they'd be alright for the time being... 

A soft noise came from behind him. Hunk whirled around to see Lance sitting on the ground, breathing shallowly and shaking, pale, eyes screwed tightly shut. Hunk sunk to the ground and put his hand gently on Lance's knee. "Hey, hey it's gonna be okay, buddy. All I need you to do is breathe with me, can you do that for me? Just in and out, nice and slow, just like this." Lance nodded shakily, trying to follow Hunk's breathing, his breath hitching unevenly as he did so. "That's it, that's it. We're going to be just fine, we'll get out of here in no time, yeah? Just keep breathing for me, there you go." Hunk kept up the soothing tone, checking over his holopad map of the tunnels they'd used to get down here in the first place. Several branching routes were shaded red, including the one they'd intended on taking back up, which appeared to have collapsed for a significant distance ahead. Lance's breathing was slowly starting to even out as Hunk traced routes over and over until he found one from where they were now that led up to the planet's surface that wasn't impossible to get through. There were a handful of intersecting tunnels that appeared to have collapsed, but the main tunnel was still intact. They'd just have to make their way through as best they could. 

Hunk looked back up to see Lance's eyes on him. He smiled tentatively. "I think I've got us a way out, do you think you're ready to go?"

Lance took a few more slow breaths, significantly more even that his breathing had been earlier. "Yeah. Yeah, let's go."

Hunk stood up and helped Lance to his feet, linking their hands and squeezing gently. "I'll be here the whole way. We've got this."

Lance nodded, his grip on Hunk's hand tight. He was still a bit paler than Hunk would have liked, but he could worry about that later. 

* * *

The first time they came to a caved-in intersection, Hunk turned to warn Lance. "The intersection up ahead has a bit of damage, but it doesn't look very intensive on the map so it should be just fine." 

Lance paled rapidly and gripped Hunk's hand tightly again. "Okay." He swallowed hard. "Okay, just... let's get it over with."

When they turned the corner to see the intersection, Hunk sighed in relief. The cave-in was indeed minor, and it didn't look to have damaged the main tunnel they had come through. Picking their way over the rocks that had slid in from the tunnels branching off, they moved through and continued upward, with Lance looking more than a bit relieved. Hunk smiled at him reassuringly.

* * *

Unfortunately, the second caved-in intersection was not so minor. The opening was over half-full of rock and debris, which meant a climb up and through a 3-foot gap. Still not bad, and on the map it looked like it opened up again on the other side. Lance bit his lip anxiously and tightened his hold on Hunk's hand, squeezing his eyes shut as they made their way through the gap, Hunk rambling the whole way. "There we go, that's it, just a bit further... There, we're through the worst of it, you did it, now it's just down this and into the tunnel again, see it's getting wider already." He checked the map again, and thankfully there were only two more collapses to get through. His chest relaxed a bit.

* * *

As they walked quickly through the mostly undamaged tunnel, Lance seemed to breathe a little easier, and his hands shook a little less. The next crossroad was minorly damaged, hardly even a proper collapse, which they crossed easily. However, Hunk knew that the last one would not be so easy.

He was right, of course. When they reached the collapsed section, the main tunnel had partially collapsed as well, leaving them facing what was practically a wall of rock. Lance curled into himself and gripped Hunk's hand tightly.

"What now?" He asked quietly. Hunk squeezed his hand. 

"We'll have to do a little bit of digging, I think. It seems to have settled, and if you look there, up on the right? The ceiling is still intact. If we climb up and dig a bit of the debris out there we should be able to get through to the other side. And after that, it's a straight shot right up to the surface through the main tunnel."

Lance nodded slowly. "Are you sure? What if-"

Hunk shook his head quickly. "Don't go down that road. It's going to be fine, okay? I've got my helmet scanner running so if there's any disturbance we'll be the first to know about it, yeah? Five minutes from now we'll be out of this tunnel and back outside."

Lance looked at Hunk, then down at their hands, and squeezed again. "Okay."

And so they climbed carefully up the mountain of rock, Lance making a concentrated effort to maintain regular breathing, and Hunk keeping up a steady stream of assurances and encouragement. When they reached the top, the gap they had to work with was about a foot both ways. The work of moving debris out of the way went fairly quickly, even as they stopped frequently to listen for rumbling and to check Hunk's scanner. 

Nothing happened for awhile. They kept digging out rocks until they'd almost made an opening big enough to get through without risking accidentally dislodging more debris. Then, a low rumble echoed through the tunnel.

All of the blood drained out of Lance's face, and his hands curled into fists. "Hunk..." His breaths were coming out a bit shorter now. 

Hunk grabbed Lance's hand again. "Hey, hey, look at me. We are so close, we're going to get out of here. You have to trust me on that. Follow my breathing, yeah? We're going to move this big rock here in the corner and get through here. Come on, you can do this, Lance, I know you can."

Lance nodded, breathing carefully as Hunk counted them out loud. Finally, the two managed to shift one of the larger rocks out of the way of the gap they were digging out. 

The gap was barely big enough, but it would do. Hunk pushed Lance through first and then Lance pulled Hunk through from the other side. 

Another low rumble echoed through the tunnel. They moved quickly down the slope on the other side and into the main tunnel.

A third rumble, louder this time. Lance grabbed Hunk's hand tightly. "Hunk..." Another rumble interrupted whatever he had been about to say, and it didn't stop. "Hunk, what-" The floor under their feet began to shake.

Hunk looked up and saw small chips start breaking off the smooth stone above and his eyes widened. "Oh. Oh, no." He pulled Lance forward and sped up until the two were sprinting through the practically vibrating tunnel. Hunk glanced down at the map as they ran, the falling debris from the ceiling getting larger as the shaking grew more violent.

A rock about the size of Hunk's fist crashed into Lance's shoulder, knocking him to one side. 

"Lance!" Hunk pulled him closer and activated his shield to put over their heads as they ran. "Are you okay?"

Lance nodded, his expression tight. 

As they turned around the next corner, Hunk could see daylight at the end of the tunnel. "That's it, that's our exit!" He almost laughed in relief as they drew closer to the circle of light.

The shaking had reached what appeared to be a crescendo, as the falling rock was now worryingly large. Hunk didn't say anything about the concerning size and frequency, but he did manage to coax Lance into a bit faster of a run. They were so close, it couldn't all go wrong now.

They were maybe 100 yards from the opening when the opening filled with six Galra sentries. Hunk dropped his shield and activated his bayard, slowing only a bit, Lance activating his shield and propping it over their heads as the tunnel itself continued raining down around them. Shots hit around them, shooting chunks out of the already-unstable tunnel walls. 

Hunk shot the two on the right in quick succession, and then another one as they continued approaching. Lance dropped his shield and activated his bayard, shooting down the two on the left, leaving only one in the middle. As Lance lined up his shot, a chunk of stone, larger than the others, came loose and fell. 

Hunk looked up and saw it fall, almost in slow motion, leaping to shove Lance out of the way. As he did, the final remaining sentry shot towards where Lance had been only a moment ago, hitting Hunk in the shoulder. As Hunk hit the ground, the ceiling slab came crashing down on his lower leg. Lance sat up from where Hunk and thrown him, coughing as he shot the sentry in the chest before turning to drop to his knees next to Hunk.

"Hunk! Oh, quiznack, Hunk, come on, buddy, look at me-" Lance shoved the rock off of Hunk's leg and rolled Hunk to the side. "Come on, buddy, we have to go, we have to get out of here."

Hunk groaned and propped himself up. "Yeah. Let's go, come on." Lance helped him up and pulled Hunk's uninjured arm over his shoulders and they moved as quickly as they could, both stumbling as the tunnel shook and crumbled around them. 

After far too long, they clambered out of the tunnel and into the daylight, coughing dust out of their lungs. Hunk tapped at his comms again. "Anybody there?"

Pidge's voice came through almost immediately. "Hunk! Are you guys okay? We lost contact with you! Where are you, is Lance with you?" 

Lance tapped into the comm link. "Yeah, I'm here Pidgeon. Think we can get a pickup?" 

Hunk typed into the holopad quickly. "I sent you our location. We're pretty far from Yellow now though, we had to take an alternate route after the tunnel collapsed."

Pidge made a concerned noise. "What- never mind, we'll hear the whole story later. Since I've got cloaking, I'm still planetside, so I'll be there in just a tick. Just hang in there a little longer, okay?" And the comm link cut off, leaving Hunk and Lance to wait.

Hunk wrapped his uninjured arm around Lance in a side hug. "I can't wait to get off this stupid planet."

Lance gave a sort of half laugh, burying his face into Hunk's neck. "Seconded."

* * *

Later that night, after the two had been fussed over by the team and everyone had been filled in on the details, Coran insisted that Hunk and Lance join him in the infirmary. 

Lance looked visibly uncomfortable as they entered, Hunk still limping slightly. Coran checked them over with several weird scanners that Hunk was far too tired to wonder about. Finally, after a lot of "hmm"ing and "hah"ing, Coran straightened up. 

"Number Two, if your leg is going to heal correctly, we had better get you into a pod tonight, and it wouldn't hurt that shoulder either. You'll probably only be a couple of hours, these things are relatively minor fixes." 

Hunk shrugged. "Whatever you say, Coran."

Coran looked at Lance. "Number Three, I'm sorry, but your shoulder-"

Lance swallowed hard. "Um, yeah, I kind of figured." 

Coran put a hand on Lance's knee. "If you would like me to, we do have a mild sedative? You would only wake up as you came out of the pod, if you think-"

Lance was already nodding gratefully. "I'd appreciate that, Coran. Thanks."

* * *

The pod hissed as it opened and Hunk tipped forward into a pair of familiar arms. He looked up to see Lance smiling at him, dressed in his paladin pajamas. 

"You good, buddy?" 

Hunk nodded, throwing one of the infirmary blankets around his shoulders. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. What about you?"

Lance nodded, looking to be in better spirits than he had before. "I'm good, yeah." He handed Hunk a change of clothes. 

Hunk glanced around as he changed, noticing the empty room. "I guess everyone else has gone to bed, huh?"

Lance nodded, gesturing towards the door. "Coran waited for me to get out to make sure I was okay, but I told him I'd hang around to check on you when you got out so he could go to bed." 

Hunk smiled. "Thanks for waiting for me. Do you want to go get something to eat? The pods always leave me starving."

Lance snorted. "Do you even need to ask?"

As the two headed to the kitchen, Lance cleared his throat. "I wanted to thank you for today. I couldn't have gotten out of there without you, man."

Hunk waved a hand. "You'd do the same for me, Lance. No big deal."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Yes, big deal, Hunk. That was the bravest thing I've ever seen."

Hunk shook his head. "Brave? No way, I was terrified the whole time. I just... You needed me and it was easier to focus on that then how scared I was." He couldn't quite look Lance in the eye as he said it. "I think if I'd been there by myself... it might have been a really different story."

Lance nudged his shoulder. "Hunk, you are the most selfless person I know, and what you did? That was brave. Really brave. You saved my life, you got me out of those tunnels." Lance wrapped his arms around Hunk in a loose hug. "If I'd been there by myself it also would have been a very different story." His voice wavered and he swallowed thickly. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Hunk. Today or any day. I love you, buddy."

Hunk sank into the hug gratefully, already starting to tear up. "Thanks."

Lance hugged him more tightly, sounding like he was on the verge of tears himself. "Anytime."

Hunk held Lance tightly, grounding himself in the contact. "I love you too, Lance. You... you're my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without you, either. I'm really glad we ended up out here together, you know? I'd... I'd really miss you if you'd left and I'd still been on Earth." He laughed wetly, wiping the steady stream of tears off his cheeks. "It's a good thing I didn't go back to the dorms without you and Pidge, huh?"

Lance laughed, squeezing Hunk one more time before releasing him to hold him by his shoulders at arm's length. "Yeah, I guess it is, huh?" He let go of Hunk to pull down the box in the kitchen that held the paladin's snacks. "Want to try some of those cracker things from Olkarion?"

Hunk smiled and shrugged. "Why not?"

Lance pulled out the pouch in question and then paused, biting his lip. "Hunk, can I... I mean, do you think..." He took a deep breath and looked up at Hunk. "Do you remember at the Garrison when one of us would get really homesick and we'd just cuddle all night?"

Hunk nodded. "Yeah, do you want to do it again?"

Lance nodded. "If you don't mind? I just... I don't want to be alone right now."

Hunk pulled Lance into another hug. "I don't mind at all. Besides, it's been a bit of a rough day all around, don't you think? I could do with a good cuddle."

Lance shot Hunk a pair of finger guns. "I have been told I give pretty great cuddles."

Hunk snorted. "Oh, have you now?"

Lance puffed up in mock offense. "I have! I'll have you know I am a renowned cuddle master, the reigning cuddle champion-"

Hunk smiled, heading to his room with Lance in tow. They were going to be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always super appreciated they absolutely make my day, and if you'd like to come yell about Hunk and Lance being friends and just supporting and validating each other then feel free to jump on over to my Tumblr [cam-cat-writer](http://cam-cat-writer.tumblr.com)


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